Mr. Gutknecht (for
himself, Ms. Baldwin,
Mr. Burton of Indiana, and
Ms. Watson) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To provide for the protection of public health and the
environment from mercury contamination associated with the shipment of
elemental mercury or with mercury-bearing solid waste, and for other
purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the
Mercury Reclamation Act of
2006.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following:

(1)

Mercury is a naturally occurring element
that is found in air, water and soil. It is a bioaccumulative toxin that is
easily absorbed through skin and respiratory and gastrointestinal
tissues.

(2)

Communities across
the country have been victims of accidental and intentional releases of
elemental mercury in schools and other public and private buildings, exposing
citizens to harmful mercury vapors and costing millions of dollars in property
damage and remediation costs.

(3)

Mercury deposition
is a significant public health threat in many States throughout the United
States.

(4)

According to a
report by the National Academy of Sciences, over 60,000 children are born each
year in the United States at risk for adverse neurodevelopmental effects due to
exposure to methyl mercury in utero.

(5)

Current Federal
hazardous waste regulations allow land disposal of certain highly contaminated
mercury wastes without treatment to remove the mercury, despite Environmental
Protection Agency-sponsored studies concluding that such disposal practices are
not sufficiently protective of human health and the environment.

(6)

According to the
Government Accountability Office, in 2003 over 26,000,000 pounds of mercury
wastes disposed of in landfills were not required to meet treatment standards
promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency for the safe mercury
disposal.

(7)

According to the
Government Accountability Office, the Environmental Protection Agency does not
know how millions of pounds of mercury wastes are treated prior to land
disposal and cannot be certain that businesses are properly managing their
mercury contaminated wastes.

(8)

The Government Accountability Office
determined that many states and landfill operators are misidentifying highly
contaminated mercury wastes as debris, which allows these wastes
to be landfilled without testing or mercury reclamation as the law
envisioned.

(9)

Current Federal
laws and regulations do not provide the information necessary for regulators or
the public to accurately track mercury-containing items from generation to
disposal.

(10)

Mercury is
released to the environment when mercury-containing products are discarded in
landfills and broken in the waste stream, polluting our water and threatening
the health of workers and others exposed to mercury vapors from these
releases.

(11)

While mercury-containing wastes must be
properly managed and recycled whenever possible, the energy conservation
benefits of using mercury-based compact fluorescent lighting are highly
significant.

Less than
twenty-five percent of mercury-containing lamps disposed of each year are
recycled, leading to the release of mercury from over one-half billion lamps
broken in solid waste without any mercury recovery.

(14)

A study by a major retailer finds that
changing 100 million light bulbs to compact fluorescent lights would: save $3
billion in energy costs, keep 45 billion pounds of greenhouse gases from
reaching the atmosphere, and would eliminate the need for 1.3 coal-fired power
plants.

(15)

The Federal government should develop
specific programs to increase the collection and recycling of
mercury-containing lighting devices, particularly from consumers and small
businesses. By stimulating the nation's ability to collect and recycle
mercury-containing lighting devices, the Federal government will achieve the
dual goals of energy conservation and environmental protection.

(16)

Current Federal
laws and regulations allow many discarded mercury items to escape regulation
due to inadequate mercury testing methods and loopholes allowing significant
amounts of waste to be improperly disposed of as solid waste without mercury
recovery and other environmental protections.

(17)

Improved tracking
of mercury-containing wastes is critical to ensure that mercury is reclaimed
from mercury wastes whenever feasible.

3.

Mercury waste
packaging, tracking and storage

(a)

Amendment of
Solid Waste Disposal Act

Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal
Act is amended by adding the following new section at the end thereof:

4011.

Mercury waste
packaging, tracking and storage

(a)

Regulations

The Administrator, in cooperation with the
Secretary of Transportation, shall review the storage, transportation, tracking
and packaging requirements of their respective departments and agencies as they
pertain to mercury-bearing solid waste, as defined in section 1004(27) of this
Act, including those wastes which qualify as hazardous wastes under this Act,
and shall promulgate, within 18-month of enactment of the
Mercury Reclamation Act of
2006, regulations to protect public health and the environment
governing the tracking, storage, packaging, record keeping, and reporting on
the shipments of mercury-bearing waste. Such regulations shall address any
deficiencies in the current regulations of the Administrator and of the
Secretary of Transportation governing the transportation, storage, and
packaging of mercury-bearing wastes and intact, defective or broken
mercury-containing products.

(b)

Tracking

The regulations under this section shall
ensure the ability of regulators and the public to track the generation,
treatment, and disposal of mercury wastes and require accountability for both
waste generators and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities to properly
identify and document mercury wastes and comply with the proper treatment and
disposal requirements for such wastes.

(1)

The regulations
promulgated under this paragraph shall include, but not be limited to,
promulgation of regulations necessary to ensure the ability of regulators and
the public to track the generation, treatment and disposal of devices which
contain mercury integral to their function and ensure that such devices are
properly treated prior to disposal.

(2)

In the case of
mercury-bearing waste subject to section 3004(m), tracking requirements shall
include a statement of whether the shipment is intended to be treated to
reclaim the mercury, and a statement of justification in the event the mercury
contained in the waste is not being reclaimed.

(3)

Tracking standards
established pursuant to this section for widely generated wastes, as determined
by the Administrator, shall be implemented in a manner that improves the
ability of regulators and the public to track the generation, treatment and
disposal of such wastes while avoiding placing undue burdens on the collection
and transportation of such wastes that would discourage the proper collection
and treatment of such wastes.

(c)

Packaging
standards

Based upon the
review of the current packaging standards for mercury-bearing waste shipments
of the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency,
the Administrator shall promulgate such additional standards as may be
necessary to protect public health and the environment. Such regulations shall
be structured so as to prevent the release of mercury and mercury vapor during
the transportation and storage of mercury bearing wastes

(d)

Households

The
tracking and packaging standards under this section shall not apply to wastes
generated by households, as defined by the Administrator under this Act, until
such wastes are received by a treatment, storage or disposal facility.

(e)

Enforcement

The
provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 3008 shall apply to
violations of subsection (a) of this section in the same manner and to the same
extent as such provisions apply to violations of subtitle
C.

.

(b)

Table of
contents

The table of
contents for such subtitle D is amended by adding the following new item at the
end thereof:

Sec. 4012. Mercury waste packaging,
tracking and
storage.

.

4.

Devices containing
mercury

(a)

In
General

The Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 and
following) is amended by adding the following new section at the end of
subtitle D:

4012.

Mercury device
recycling

(a)

In
general

Effective 60 days following enactment of this section,
each person who generates any solid waste which consists of a device that
contains mercury integral to its function, including but not limited to mercury
added lighting, shall

(1)

take such steps as may be necessary to
insure that such solid waste is treated as necessary to reclaim the mercury,
or

(2)

transfer such
solid waste to another person who has accepted responsibility for such
reclamation.

The
Administrator shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary to carry
out this subsection.(b)

Household and
small generator exemption

(1)

The requirements of subsection (a) shall
not apply to any of the following categories of solid waste:

(A)

Solid waste from households, as defined by
the Administrator under this Act.

(B)

Solid waste generated by a person who
generates during a calendar month not more than 15 items to which subsection
(a) would otherwise apply so long as the mercury contained in the items
generated in a calendar month does not exceed one half ounce of mercury.

(2)

The Administrator shall develop a voluntary
compliance program to maximize the collection of mercury containing items that
qualify for the exemption under paragraph (1) of this subsection, particularly
those programs involving the take back of spent mercury lamps at the
point-of-sale.

(3)

Nothing in this subsection shall affect the
authority of any State or local government to provide for the reclamation of
solid waste containing mercury.

(c)

State
programs

Any State may notify
the Administrator that the State has adopted a program providing for the
reclamation of mercury from solid waste referred to in subsection (a). Upon
receipt and acceptance of such notification, compliance with the requirements
of the State program, as long as it remains in full force and effect, shall
constitute compliance with the requirement of subsection (a).

(d)

Enforcement

The
provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 3008 shall apply to
violations of subsection (a) of this section in the same manner and to the same
extent as such provisions apply to violations of subtitle
C.

.

(b)

Clerical
amendment

The table of
contents for such subtitle D is amended by adding the following new item at the
end thereof:

Sec. 4012. Mercury device
recycling.

.

(c)

Reevaluation of
small generator exemption

Consistent with section 3001(d)(4) of the
Solid Waste Disposal Act regarding small quantity generators, the Administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency shall assess and re-evaluate whether the
current 100 kg/month exemption for small quantity generators generally, is
protective of public health and the environment as it pertains to generators of
mercury-containing wastes.

5.

Requiring mercury
reclamation from hazardous mercury wastes

Section 3004(m) of the Solid Waste Disposal
Act (42 U.S.C. 6924(m)) is amended by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:

(3)

Effective 30 days after the date of
enactment of this paragraph, the treatment standards applicable to all
hazardous waste containing mercury in concentrations equal to or exceeding 260
mg/kg shall require the recovery of mercury from such waste prior to land
disposal using a technology approved by the Administrator for such wastes under
regulations issued pursuant to this subtitle. The Administrator may, consistent
with the protection of human health and the environment—

(A)

limit the organic content of such waste
that may be subjected to mercury recovery technologies;

(B)

limit the use of
mercury recovery technologies for radioactive wastes;

(C)

issue, by
regulation, variances and exceptions to the required use of mercury recovery
technologies, based on feasibility of mercury recovery; and

(D)

revise such
treatment standards to incorporate the capabilities of the most advanced
available mercury recovery
technologies.

.

6.

Funding for
mercury programs

Section 2007
of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 and following) is amended by
adding the following new subsection at the end thereof:

(g)

Funding for
mercury programs

There is authorized to be appropriated to the
Administrator to award contracts, grants and other funding assistance needed to
perform the following tasks (including coordination with the mercury product
manufacturing industry, the mercury recycling industry, non-profit
organizations, and the States) not more than $50,000,000 for each fiscal year
after the enactment of the Mercury
Reclamation Act of 2006:

(1)

Preparing an
inventory of the legitimate uses of mercury in commercial, industrial,
consumer, and medical applications, and the uses of mercury exported from the
United States.

(2)

Promoting the
recovery of mercury from waste materials.

(3)

Enforcement of
Federal regulations for the management of mercury wastes under section 4012 and
making grants to States for carrying out State regulatory programs under
section 4012.

(4)

Promoting the establishment of mercury lamp
take back programs at the point-of-sale to assist consumers and small
businesses in the reclamation of spent mercury lamps and
devices.

.

7.

Annual
Report

Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the
Administrator shall transmit to the Congress a report on the progress made
under this Act. Such report shall include at minimum each of the
following:

(1)

A progress summary of any regulatory
actions taken in response to the review under section 4011(a) of the Solid
Waste Disposal Act.

(2)

A
progress summary of mercury device recycling efforts relating to this Act,
including a quantitative analysis of the amount of mercury recycled.

(3)

A description of grants and amounts awarded
under section 2007(g) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act and of the criteria used
for awarding those grants.

(4)

A
detailed financial reporting of total administration costs of carrying out this
Act.

(5)

A
joint summary, by the Administrator and appropriate State officials, that
describes the coordination and communication progress and problems between the
Federal and State Governments in carrying out this Act.

(6)

Recommendations
for greater efficiency or improvement of administration of this Act.